Loudoun Environmental Commission Honors 2026 Environmental Excellence Award Winners

The Loudoun County Environmental Commission has announced the winners of its annual Environmental Excellence Awards, which honor individuals, businesses, government employees and programs, nonprofit organizations and educators for their leadership on environmental issues. The awards were presented during the Board of Supervisors’ April 21, 2026, meeting.

The 2026 winners and categories are:

• Business: The 338 Net Zero Building. The 338 Net Zero building, developed by Peter Burnett, is a unique commercial building that produces as much energy as it consumes through onsite solar generation, geothermal heating and cooling and high efficiency systems. Burnett repurposed an existing structure in downtown Leesburg, conserving materials and preventing construction waste. The building eliminates operational emissions, reduces strain on the energy grid, and provides long-term cost savings while serving as a scalable model for sustainable development.
• Citizen or Community Group: Educational Climate Solutions (ECS). Educational Climate Solutions, led by Diana Weber, educates students about climate change and actions they can take to reduce their impact. It uses an innovative “spiral learning” framework tailored for elementary education that revisits climate topics at each grade level with increasing complexity. In addition to developing environmental literacy, the program has annually diverted 2,800 pounds of food waste and recycled 100–300 pounds of plastic.
• Educator: Lori Stone, AP Environmental Science teacher and Green Team Lead, Academies of Loudoun. Lori Stone has advanced sustainability through hands-on, student-driven initiatives. She created a “living laboratory” model that integrates multiple academic programs and community partnerships to address real-world environmental challenges. Her work has involved hundreds of students and delivered measurable impacts, including food waste diversion systems, biodiversity projects supporting local wildlife and pollinators, and school-wide conservation campaigns.
• Government Employee or Program/Team: Loudoun County Stormwater Team. The Loudoun County Stormwater Team in the Department of General Services protects communities from flooding while enhancing water quality through forward-thinking stormwater management. The program oversees the design, maintenance and regulation of stormwater systems countywide, ensuring compliance while advancing public education and stream health. Their illicit discharge program uses data-driven analysis and community engagement to identify and eliminate pollution. Complementing this work, water quality projects such as the River Bend Stream and Outfall Restoration apply innovative approaches to reduce pollutants and restore ecosystems.
• Lifetime Achievement: Darrell Schwalm. Darrell Schwalm is being recognized posthumously for a lifetime of leadership advancing environmental education and stewardship in Loudoun County. As a founding member of the Loudoun Environmental Stewardship Alliance (now the Loudoun Environmental Education Alliance), he helped establish a lasting partnership between schools and community organizations, launching some of the county’s first coordinated environmental education efforts.
• Student: Aarna Katar, Stone Hill Middle School eighth grader. Aarna Katar created “SustainAware,” a tableware library where residents can borrow reusable dishware for events, reducing single-use plastics. In 2025, it supported over 20 events, preventing more than 10,000 plastic items from entering landfills and bringing awareness of the issue of single-use plastics to more than 1,500 residents.

This is the fourth year of the Environmental Excellence Awards program created by the Environmental Commission, which advises the Board of Supervisors and makes recommendations on policies and practices related to the environment, sustainability and energy management. Members of the commission include representatives from the community, industry and higher education.

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More Information

More information about the county’s efforts to increase environmental sustainability and resilience for Loudoun residents and businesses is online at loudoun.gov/environment.